Suffering
by TitaHightopp05
Summary: The Hatter is going through the great heart brake of Alice's departure. Even though Tean does her best to help him, she doesn't know what goes on in a mad mind. Sequel to "Not The Last One", short explanation for the ranting in an Author Note at the very beginning of the story. R&R!
1. A Week

**Hey everyone! I know maybe is a bit early to post a sequel, but the** _ **actual**_ **sequel, Alice Through the Looking Glass is coming out in less than a week! YAY! I already have everything written (you have no idea how much time I've waited to publish) so, sorry but I have to hurry :-3.**

 **The 'rules' will be the same for every FanFiction:**

 **I ONLY OWN: Tean, Terence, their daughter and this situation.**

 **I DON'T OWN: Alice in Wonderland or any of the characters in the original story, they belong to Tim Burton.**

 **I would love to know what do you think about it, please Read &Review.**

Chapter 1 – A Week

 _Hatter…_

He sat in his workshop that night, hearing voices in his head, but trying to not listen.

 _Hatter!_

A week and 6 hours right now. He was already giving up.

 _Why is a raven like a writing desk?_

"STOP THA'! GET OUT O' MAH HEAD!" he yelled cleaning with his arm the desk in front of him: bobbins, fabrics, pins fell on the ground with a loud crashing sound.

He stood and pressed his hands on his temples, in pain.

 _A crazy, mad, wonderful idea…_

"GOH AWAY! PLEASE!"

He knelt, still screaming.

Suddenly a light hit him, he turned and saw the door burst open and three dark figures in backlight coming towards him.

"No, NO! GOH AWAY!"

"Hatter, calm down" a familiar soft feminine voice said, in his actual state he couldn't recognize who was the owner of it.

"LEAVE MEH ALONE!"

"Tarrant-" another one said, but he interrupted.

"AH SAID NO!" he screamed standing, but his knees weren't responding and he felt himself falling. He tried to fight when one of the figures got him and pinned his arms behind his back: now he was no longer angry but afraid: "ALICE! ALICE, HELP MEH…" he kept yelling, until he felt a shy touch on his cheek and stopped.

He realized that he was breathing heavily and his eyes were burning because of the red color they had assumed.

"Tarrant, look at me…" the second voice said.

He blinked a few times to focus his sight and saw his sister holding firmly his face. He sighed and closed his eyes leaning in the touch.

Tean looked at him with sympathy, then moved his gaze to Terence with pleading eyes and he let go of the Hatter, which fell on his knees, exhausted: "I'll put him to bed and then I'm all yours" she whispered to her husband with a sad smile.

He playfully poked her nose: "I'm counting on it". He turned to the Queen and spoke quietly: "You can go back to sleep, Majesty. He's safe now"

Mirana looked at the twins then back to Terence: "Thank you for helping him. Good night" she turned with grace and got back to her chambers. Terence followed.

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Minutes passed and Tean was beginning to think that Tarrant had fallen asleep. As she tried to speak he interrupted: "She won't come back, will she?"

Tean sighed: "Actually… I don't know"

"I don't like to wait for her. It hurts. I want her here, with me"

Tean frowned, let his face and stood up. She offered her hand which he accepted and slowly got him up too. They walked out of the Hat Shop, through the corridor, into his chamber. Once into his bedroom she helped him to unbutton his jacket and waist coat then slid them off from his shoulders.

"Refresh yourself a little, yes?"

He nodded with sleepy eyes and went away. Meanwhile Tean prepared the bed and thought: thought about the poor Mad Hatter, who didn't eat or sleep anymore if not obliged, who heard voices in his head and couldn't help it. Thought about Alice, wondered when she would have come back to him. Thought about what she could do to help in the situation. She was deep in her thoughts when the Hatter came back in the room. She drew back the blankets and sat facing him, patting the pillow behind her.

He lay down so his back was turned to Tean: "I can't sleep: I have to wait for her".

She leaned down and slid an arm under his hugging him: "But don't you think that she would want you to be fine, Tarrant? You need to sleep. Besides, you'd like to be awake when she'll be here again"

He said nothing back, just tried with all the strength he had to keep his eyes stubbornly open. Anyway, after a little while he spoke: "I'm sorry, it was your wedding night"

"Don't worry, we were-"

"All you wished was a beautiful wedding day, but I ruined everything!"

"No, no, no…" she pleaded resting her cheek on his own and kissing it lightly "…please don't say so"

"I… I just want her back to me…" he sobbed, but tried to hide it.

However, Tean noticed and dried a lone tear with the sleeve of her night dress: "Sshh… I know, I know. Now just try to take some sleep"

He sniffed quietly and she added whispering: "Hush…. One more thing: the Queen allowed you to take a break from work tomorrow, is it ok?"

He sighed disappointed: "'Course… thank you, Tean"

"Sleep Tarrant…"

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Later that night, from his side of the bed in their bedroom, Terence lifted his gaze from the book as he heard the chamber door open. Then he saw his wonderful wife came over: "I was about to give up on you coming back tonight"

She did an half smile as she cuddled under the blanket and kissed him sweetly.

He smiled in the kiss and, when they parted, wrapped her in a warm hug which she snuggled in: "How is he?"

Tean sighed: "He's sound asleep, I doubt he'll be awake any early tomorrow"

He reached with an arm behind himself and took the only burning candle in the room blowing on it, then started to run his hands back and forth along of her back quickly to warm her a bit: "You are taking good care of him"

She seemed to want to say something but changed idea. Then gasped and looked at him with her funny 'Eureka!-look', as Terence defined: "You are both men!-"

"Thank goodness for that!" he affirmed with wide eyes.

"Let me finish, silly thing!" she laughed "I mean, you were apart from me for long time too, not knowing if I was still alive. You should tell him how to go over that voices-phase, you know, men talking and stuff…"

She spoke so fast that he had to remain silent with a confused expression for a while, but understood: "If you think that that can help, it will be my pleasure!"

She squeaked in happiness and hugged his neck: "Thank you!"

Then she drew back slowly with a mysterious look and kissed him slowly and teasingly. He kissed her back, gasping as her still cool fingertips tapped his bare chest while unbuttoning his shirt.

"You were talking about 'pleasure', weren't you?" she whispered in a low voice that send shivers all along his spine as he nodded. "You know this is still our wedding night, don't you?"


	2. Three Years and Six Months

**Author Note: that's why I ranted this story M; there will just be some blood, no adult situations. I'M NOT PROPOSING SELF-HARMING AS A SOLUTION TO YOUR HEART TROUBLES! DON'T TAKE EXAPLE, PLEASE!**

 **Really, don't…**

Chapter 2 – Three Years and Six Month

Tean ran excited through the corridors of Marmoreal until she reached the Hatter's workshop.

She took a deep breath and knocked: no response. She knocked and called: no response again. She decided to make her way in by herself.

"Tarrant?" she called, then gasped loudly at what she saw.

"Stay away, Tean!" he hissed nervously. He had a pair of opened scissors in his hand, the opposite forearm was exposed and he was directing the blade right there.

She closed the door and held her hands forward: "Tarrant, don't be silly, give me those scissors" she said as firmly as she could, hiding her trembling. He shook his head without shifting his eyes from his arm.

"The scissors. Now." She repeated.

"AH'M NEHT ONE O' YEHR HERSES!" he yelled at her.

"Dehs it mean tha' Ah have teh let yehrself get hurt?" she took a breath and held her hand out, palm upwards "Please…"

"Neh…" he said "Neh need teh suffer fehr somethin' tha' is neht here. Mye sufferin' needs a cause…"

Tean shrieked as her brother pressed the scissors on his skin and quickly opened a long, bloody cut.

She ran towards him promptly grabbing the weapon and throwing it away; the Hatter fought her grip until she grabbed the wrist of the wounded arm: he shouted in pain and slapped her hard with the back of a hand making her fall on the floor.

The last thing she saw before falling on the ground were Tarrant's flame yellowish-orange eyes with blue splinters. She delicately rubbed her burning cheek, discovering that the head of a pin in his pincushion ring had left a scratch. Hearing nothing more than his labored breath behind her, she turned her head to face him: he was sitting on his chair, the arm was on his desk, bleeding hard, his eyes, mostly deep blue with yellow shades and moist were focused on the wound. He looked scared to death.

"Tarrant!" she said standing up. He barely looked at her, his other hand was managing to catch the red drops which were to fall on the floor.

When she tried to touch him he shifted back a little: "Let me see, yes?" she asked, reaching for his arm again; this time he didn't move.

"What have I done?" he whispered, so quietly that she was tempted to ask him to repeat, but didn't.

"Come, now we're fixing it" she said helping him to stand and wrapping an arm around his waist while the other hand was holding his bloody wrist.

"Did I hurt you, Tean?" he asked sore.

"Later. Now, please, let me clean this cut"

He followed her into the bathroom of his chamber, which had been connected with the Hat Shop by a door. She put his arm under the freezing running water of the bath tub: it felt wonderful. The blood flew away and shown a thin but quite deep cut.

Tean lifted her gaze and saw a dreadfully pale hatter; she tapped inside the pocket of her little bag and found a sugar cube. She landed it to him: "I know you are no horse, but this will help: eat it" He did.

She stood pressing a hand on his forehead and, after noticing that he was alright, went to look for some bandages.

The Hatter felt dizzy: when he had calmed down Tean was on the floor, there was blood on his desk, on the floor, on his hands, his head was turning and his arm was hurting so much that he had to sit down and fight the sense of nausea he had. He didn't understand completely what had happened, he could only stare horrified.

Tean put an unguent on some cotton and applied it on the wound after she had dried it: "See? The cold water stopped the blood"

"Thank you…" he muttered absent minded.

"Don't even say that" she told him as she ensured the bandage "Know what? Come and sit with me on the couch: I have to tell you something"

"Yes" the Hatter said standing up quickly.

"Easy, Tarrant. You are weak" she exclaimed holding his other arm in support.

As they sat he suddenly spoke: "Is later now?"

"Sorry, what?"

"You told me that later you would have answered my question: is later now?"

"Oh, well, I guess so"

"Did I hurt you, Tean?"

She had to think about how to answer this for a moment: "Not really"

"Please…" he pleaded reaching a hand forward to touch her face "…tell me the-"

She shifted as his fingertips brushed against her scratched cheek. He pulled a strand of hair behind her ear to show bruised skin and a slightly swollen scratch which went from the center of her cheek to near her mouth: "I… I did this?" he asked.

She sighed and admitted: "Yes…"

He gulped to stifle a sob and his eyes went moist again: "I slapped you…"

"Oh, Hatter… It isn't bad. Look, it isn't even bleeding! It will be gone tomorrow"

"Terence will seeh tha' 'afore tehmorrow!" he continued, his eyes watering even more.

"He'll understand, it's going to be fine"

He shook his head slightly, cupped her face and leaned to kiss her livid cheek. Then he hugged his sister to him and started crying. _Tarrant had never cried_ , she thought while returning the embrace, but now he was; the Hatter never hurt himself, we might add, but he had just did. Alice's absence was making him crumble from the inside, starting from his heart and fragile mind. Through the tears, he kept repeating his apologies and Tean kept soothing him.

After a while, when he was just laying on her shoulder breathing slowly while she was rubbing his back, she asked: "Now, may I tell you what I have to tell you from this morning?"

He raised his puffy eyes, she giggled and took hold of his shoulders: "Are you sure now that you hadn't hurt me?". He nodded weakly. She took another deep breath and smiled: "I'm pregnant!"

The Hatter's eyes widened in surprise: "You… You are? I mean, are you?"

"Yes!"

He moved his gaze to her belly and gently caressed it feeling a little swelling in the lower part of it and laughed: "It's about time that the little bairn* is here, I see!"

"3 month, actually" she sighed happily looking at him "So long since I last heard you laugh…"

"Shall I stop?" he joked.

"Tarrant: don't you even think about it!" she laughed too, poking playfully his nose.

 **Author Note:** ***bairn = baby, child.** **Yes, Happy ending at least. Let me know if it was too gruesome.**


	3. Four Years

Chapter 3 – Four Years

Tean carefully undid the ribbon of the box and opened it with a gasp: inside there was a cute, white baby bodysuit with a pink ribbon on the waist which was supporting a thin skirt made of pinkish tulle.

"Oh my, Tarrant…"

"You like it?" the Hatter asked worried.

She hugged him as close as she could with her huge swollen belly: "I love it!". He drew a sigh of relief and she let him go: "Are you ready?"

He nodded vigorously and they left.

It would have been the fourth anniversary of the Frabjous Day within a pair of days and Underland was so busy with organization. However, the Hatter always preferred to return to the windmill on that day: it helped him to not forget. It was a quiet place (with neither scissors nor voices). It was also a good excuse to breathe some fresh air and not the mercury-filled one of his workshop.

He usually went alone and stayed there for a few days: this time Tean had asked him if she could accompany him there, as she had nothing to do. So now they were leaving for the Tugley Wood on a carriage.

He helped her climbing on the steps of the vehicle and asked the horse to take a careful pace. He jumped on to sit in front of her: "It's pretty long that I don't go out of Marmoreal! White can be really boring" she said.

Tarrant laughed: "Aye, I agree! How did you convinced Terence to let you go?"

"Well… it was pretty difficult, but in the end my beautiful emerald eyes won…"

They chatted about riddles of every type to hurt the Time (not to kill it!), with Tean constantly brushing her swollen stomach begging the child inside to move: _Come on, little one…_

"'Come on' what?" the Hatter asked.

"Did I think out loud?"

"Yes" he smiled.

"Oh…". She lowered her gaze to her lap following her hand with her eyes.

The Hatter frowned as his own eyes made their way down hers same path. He knelt in front of her and knocked gently with a finger on her belly: "Hey, in there? You know what time is it?"

"Tarrant?" she giggled, just to be shushed by himself who brought a finger to his lips.

"Mmh, neither I do. But isn't it time to wake up? You know, Time can be a very shirty person: not to be late!"

They waited. Tean murmured an Outlandish song under her breath. Tarrant lifted a hand and stroked his sister's round abdomen too, until she gasped and moved his hand where the baby was kicking: "You did it!" she exclaimed in relief.

He was relieved too: "I did-". Then a sudden pain hit his head, he shut his eyes tightly and whimpered, feeling moisture slide on his lips, down his chin.

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When he opened his eyes again he was sitting next to Tean: he could see an handkerchief on his face and discovered that he couldn't breathe through nose because she was keeping it closed.

"Good morning" Tean said.

"What…?" he groaned.

"You were knelt before me when your nose started bleeding, so I sat you here and you fell unconscious for a little" she simply explained removing the handkerchief and tapping his nose with it.

"Bluddy mercury…" he muttered in response.

"Maybe changing air so suddenly had disturbed you"

"Neh, Ah had-" he cleared his throat "…I had a never-ending list of orders for the entire month: I hardly took tea this week"

"That's awful!" she giggled.

"It is, I assure you"

"Thackery will be furious" Tean said leaning out of the little window on the door of the carriage and asking the horse, Thunder, to go on. Tarrant only then noticed that they weren't moving.

When she sat again, gasped as the Hatter rested his ear on her tummy, being rocked by her slow breath: "It's in moments like this that I feel like an helpless baby…" he said "…always getting into trouble with madness and in need of help and you are always there! I must seem so bloody boring! Maybe you don't even-"

"Hatter!"

"…want to… fez… thank you" he squeaked "You see? Here we go again!"

Tean smiled, hoping he wouldn't see: she knew something was going to happen (first rumors around the castle, then from the Throne Room, then directly from the Queen were speaking clearly), but she was begged to not tell anyone that everything was clearly written in the Oracolum: "Hope, Tarrant".

"Mmh?"

"Nothing… OW!"

Hatter gasped and drew back immediately: "What?!"

She failed in stifling a laugh at his startled face and added while pressing again a hand on her belly: "I think that now your niece is upset because you woke her up, you know?"

He sighed soundly, placing a hand on his racing heart: "I guess I owe some apologies, but don't you dare to scare me like that again!" he told her with yellow splintered eyes.

"I promise. Now, I should be the bundle of nerves this time, shouldn't I?"


	4. Author Note!

**I'm sorry for this sudden interruption, but I've written a puzzle story (surprise! Ehm, no.): before you read the epilogue of 'Suffering' to understand what will happen you have to read 'Nightmares' first. Thank you for reading!**

 **Tita**


	5. Epilogue

Epilogue

The sun was high on Underland that afternoon. When the Time set right again, the weather did too and they discovered that the Frabjous Day has been in summer.

The sunbeams were warming the Hatter's body. He sighed still half asleep snuggling into the back of the woman he held on his chest: his Alice.

He smiled in his half sleep, his chin brushed against her shoulder as he kissed it, nibbling gently her skin there. Alice shifted and pressed even more against _him_. Tarrant groaned and his eyes rolled back in pleasure, his hand caressed its way up her body until it reached her cheek: he turned her face and kissed her passionately on lips, now fully awake. She gasped at first, but when she realized what was happening, gladly returned the kiss.

"Good afternoon, mo gràdh*" he lisped.

"I must say, that is the best wake-up-call I have ever received" she admitted.

"Then yeh'll be delighted teh hear tha' it is neht finished yet!" he said with deepening eyes as his mouth attacked her neck feeling it vibrate as she moaned.

Then a loud knock made them both jump; Tarrant rolled his eyes: "Maybe if weh ignore 'em they'll goh away…" he thought, just before another knock echoed through the house. He moaned in disappointment and buried his face in the crook of her neck. She laughed and hugged him tight until he rose from upon her, kissing her cheek in the process.

He threw his robe on his body and went downstairs; at the third knock he yelled: "Stop that at once! I'm on my way!"

Alice laughed to herself as she remained alone in the bedroom: staring up at the ceiling the events of the previous morning came to her mind, causing her to blush.

As she got up from the bed to dress up, the expected pain caused her to gasp sharply and clench the sheets: though, she didn't regret what had happened just a few hours before.

Moments later the Hatter busted in the room again, laughing like a madman: "She's here, Alice! She has arrived!" he continued to laugh.

Alice stared at him with an amused smile. Elaborating again Tarrant's words in her head, she misunderstood their meaning: "Tarrant, sorry, I can't help but being curious: who has arrived?" she asked, then thought that maybe the question sounded a bit cold.

"Oh, Alice, my dear. Don't think what you are thinking. A child has arrived!"

Alice felt worst: "You…"

The Hatter just laughed harder, shaking his head he picked her up and spun her around: "Now, do you really think so poor of me?"

"I'm not thinking poor: I just don't understand! Please explain yourself!"

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Terence paced slowly back and forth rocking gently the bundle of blankets he held. Tean has fallen asleep just after the birth of their first baby girl and he was keeping the newborn distracted, for he didn't want his wife to be awaken. He looked down at his daughter one more time: she wasn't asleep, but close; she yawned while loosening her cute tiny punches and shifting in her onesie.

Terence was touched. _I'm done_ , he thought.

"You're done…" a quiet voice from behind him said.

He came to sit beside his wife, placing the child in her awaiting arms and kissing the crown of her head while embracing her sweetly: "Thank you, my love".

She tiredly pursed her lips upwards and he took his kiss from her: "You're carrying the next one, then?"

Terence chuckled: "Sure, of course!"

Tean sighed: "Right when we were about to give up about having children, Agata shows up…"

"Actually, this miracle came after we had already given up, my fair one"

"Mmh, even better!"

"I want her to have a middle name: Tyva"

Tean looked up at him with a surprised expression: "Like mum?"

Terence nodded and said the name entirely to see how it felt on his lips: "Agata Tyva Five"

"I love it…" Tean murmured before drifting back to sleep.

 **Author Note: *mo gràdh = my love. The middle name of little Agata was changed from Erynn to match the canon name of the Hatter's mother, Tyva. She belongs to James Bobin.**


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